diff --git a/ghost/email-service/lib/email-renderer.js b/ghost/email-service/lib/email-renderer.js
index d2e04f400b..6fa2e22f25 100644
--- a/ghost/email-service/lib/email-renderer.js
+++ b/ghost/email-service/lib/email-renderer.js
@@ -676,6 +676,14 @@ class EmailRenderer {
         }
     }
 
+    truncateText(text, maxLength) {
+        if (text && text.length > maxLength) {
+            return text.substring(0, maxLength - 1).trim() + '…';
+        } else {
+            return text ?? '';
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * @private
      */
@@ -750,12 +758,7 @@ class EmailRenderer {
                 const {href: featureImageMobile, width: featureImageMobileWidth, height: featureImageMobileHeight} = await this.limitImageWidth(latestPost.get('feature_image'), 600, 480);
 
                 latestPosts.push({
-                    title: latestPost.get('title'),
-                    publishedAt: (latestPost.get('published_at') ? DateTime.fromJSDate(latestPost.get('published_at')) : DateTime.local()).setZone(timezone).setLocale('en-gb').toLocaleString({
-                        year: 'numeric',
-                        month: 'short',
-                        day: 'numeric'
-                    }),
+                    title: this.truncateText(latestPost.get('title'), 85),
                     url: this.#getPostUrl(latestPost),
                     featureImage: featureImage ? {
                         src: featureImage,
@@ -766,7 +769,8 @@ class EmailRenderer {
                         src: featureImageMobile,
                         width: featureImageMobileWidth,
                         height: featureImageMobileHeight
-                    } : null
+                    } : null,
+                    excerpt: this.truncateText(latestPost.get('custom_excerpt') || latestPost.get('plaintext'), 60)
                 });
 
                 if (featureImage) {
diff --git a/ghost/email-service/lib/email-templates/partials/latest-posts.hbs b/ghost/email-service/lib/email-templates/partials/latest-posts.hbs
index 404c05103c..9f806bd823 100644
--- a/ghost/email-service/lib/email-templates/partials/latest-posts.hbs
+++ b/ghost/email-service/lib/email-templates/partials/latest-posts.hbs
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@
                             {{/if}}
                             <td valign="top" align="left" class="latest-post-title">
                                 <h4>{{title}}</h4>
-                                <p>{{publishedAt}}</p>
+                                {{#if excerpt}}
+                                    <p>{{excerpt}}</p>
+                                {{/if}}
                             </td>
                         </tr>
                     </table>
diff --git a/ghost/email-service/test/email-renderer.test.js b/ghost/email-service/test/email-renderer.test.js
index b77a15e584..1ee4c34a41 100644
--- a/ghost/email-service/test/email-renderer.test.js
+++ b/ghost/email-service/test/email-renderer.test.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ const linkReplacer = require('@tryghost/link-replacer');
 const sinon = require('sinon');
 const logging = require('@tryghost/logging');
 const {HtmlValidate} = require('html-validate');
-const {DateTime} = require('luxon');
 
 function validateHtml(html) {
     const htmlvalidate = new HtmlValidate({
@@ -1289,17 +1288,20 @@ describe('Email renderer', function () {
                             {
                                 title: 'Test Post 1',
                                 published_at: new Date('2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z'),
+                                custom_excerpt: 'Super long custom excerpt. Super long custom excerpt. Super long custom excerpt. Super long custom excerpt. Super long custom excerpt.',
                                 feature_image: 'http://example.com/image.jpg'
                             },
                             {
                                 title: 'Test Post 2',
                                 published_at: new Date('2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z'),
-                                feature_image: null
+                                feature_image: null,
+                                plaintext: ''
                             },
                             {
                                 title: 'Test Post 3',
                                 published_at: null, // required for full test coverage
-                                feature_image: null
+                                feature_image: null,
+                                plaintext: 'Nothing special.'
                             }
                         ]
                     })
@@ -1562,7 +1564,7 @@ describe('Email renderer', function () {
             assert.deepEqual(data.latestPosts,
                 [
                     {
-                        publishedAt: '1 Jan 2018',
+                        excerpt: 'Super long custom excerpt. Super long custom excerpt. Super…',
                         title: 'Test Post 1',
                         url: 'http://example.com',
                         featureImage: {
@@ -1579,18 +1581,14 @@ describe('Email renderer', function () {
                     {
                         featureImage: null,
                         featureImageMobile: null,
-                        publishedAt: '1 Jan 2018',
+                        excerpt: '',
                         title: 'Test Post 2',
                         url: 'http://example.com'
                     },
                     {
                         featureImage: null,
                         featureImageMobile: null,
-                        publishedAt: DateTime.local().setZone('UTC').setLocale('en-gb').toLocaleString({
-                            year: 'numeric',
-                            month: 'short',
-                            day: 'numeric'
-                        }),
+                        excerpt: 'Nothing special.',
                         title: 'Test Post 3',
                         url: 'http://example.com'
                     }
@@ -1640,6 +1638,13 @@ describe('Email renderer', function () {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('truncateText', function () {
+        it('works for null', async function () {
+            const emailRenderer = new EmailRenderer({});
+            assert.equal(emailRenderer.truncateText(null, 100), '');
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('limitImageWidth', function () {
         it('Limits width of local images', async function () {
             const emailRenderer = new EmailRenderer({